EVERY WEEK, TheJournal.ie offers a selection of statistics and numerical nuggets to help you digest the week that has just passed.
€324 billion – The amount by which Ireland could find itself short in hoping to cover pensions and social welfare by the middle of the century, according to reports earlier this week. The Department of Social Protection said the figure was based only on estimates of what would happen if no government action was taken.
0.6% – The amount by which the cost of living in Ireland rose in August. It’s now 2.0% dearer to live in Ireland than it was a year ago.
0.7% – The interest rate that Ireland paid to borrow money for three months in a bill auction on Thursday morning. That’s far less than the 1.8% we paid two months ago – but still much more than the price Germany pays, which is… 0.0%.
64.2% – The proportion of Sharon ‘Lying Eyes’ Collins’ six-year jail term, for conspiracy to murder her former partner and his sons, that Collins actually served. Collins was given early release on Tuesday after 1407 days behind bars, and will be formally ‘fully’ released in November, pending good behaviour.
18 – The number of members of the Oireachtas who may be in breach of ethics laws after they didn’t declare income received from their previous council roles in the Register of Members’ Interests. A Dáil committee will meet the week after next to discuss the issue, which affects 14 TDs and four Senators.
4th – The place achieved by the Irish team in the Paralympics medals table – that is, if you adjust it for population. Only Iceland, Australia and New Zealand took more golds per head of population than Ireland did – and that’s even if you include the population of all 32 counties represented by the all-island team.
€2.1 million – The approximate amount of income that the GAA has given up by deciding to cut ticket prices for the All-Ireland hurling final replays. Having charged €80 for stand tickets and €40 for terrace entry to the drawn matches last Sunday, the prices will be €50 and €25 in two weeks’ time – while the 82,300-capacity Croke Park will also house some juveniles paying a mere €10.
272 - The length, in days, of the protest undertaken by former staff at Lagan Brick in Co Cavan in a dispute over redundancy payments. The workers accepted a deal to end their nine-month campaign on Wednesday night.
0.5% – The value of a home that the IMF believes should be paid in an annual property tax, according to a review of Ireland’s financial affairs published on Monday. It didn’t take long for Michael Noonan to nip that idea in the bud.
67% – The proportion of the Indonesian adult male population who smoke cigarettes. That makes the men the world’s most prolific smokers. Oddly enough, though, only 3% of adult women have the habit.
One in seven – The proportion of boys who got an A grade in the Civic, Social and Political Education exam in the Junior Cert, the result of which were released this week. Nearly a third of girls managed the same grade – putting the subject at the top of the list of subjects in which the girls figuratively whooped the boy’s butts.
Three in seven – The proportion of Irish adults who are missing a tooth.
41 – The number of victims of the 1989 Hillsborough Disaster whose deaths could have been prevented, according to the report of an independent investigatory panel publised this week.
€41.152 – The amount per year that independent TDs get in a ‘leaders’ allowance’ – as they are considered by Leinster House to be leaders of a one-member party. This week Mick Wallace defended his decision to take the allowance, which he didn’t take last year – but is taking now, after his company’s tax affairs were revealed.
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